The Port of Virginia refuses entry of Hanjin Shipping vessels as the ocean carrier files for receivership

Effective immediately, The Port of Virginia will not be accepting any inbound Hanjin cargo (freight for export) at any of the port’s marine or intermodal terminals. The port, however, will accept empty Hanjin containers at the PPCY, the VPA said in a press release.

Further, the port is developing plans for how to handle Hanjin cargo that is already on-terminal. Those plans will be communicated to all port customers, users and stakeholders as soon as they have been finalized.

This decision, said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, comes as a result of the announcement by the ocean carrier that it had filed for court protection after losing support of its banks in South Korea.
Hanjin Shipping, South Korea’s biggest shipping firm, announced the filing for receivership and a request to the court to freeze its assets, which the Seoul Central District Court planned to grant.

The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VPA owns and through its private operating subsidiary, Virginia International Terminals, LLC (VIT), operates four general cargo facilities Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal and the Virginia Inland Port in Warren County. The VPA leases Virginia International Gateway and the Port of Richmond. In fiscal 2013, The Port of Virginia provided more than 374,000 jobs and generated $60.3 billion in total economic impact throughout the Commonwealth.